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"I was given a number of reasons why it wouldn't work," said Ed Hammer, a retired General Electric engineer who invented compact fluorescent while working at the company in the 1970s. "I was told it could be a little better than an incandescent bulb, but that was about it."
compact fluorescent bulb.
Critics said it couldn't be done.
But by carefully spacing the
spirals, Hammer was able to
avoid reflective losses and
come out with a bulb that
could light a room.
Instead, increasing energy costs have made Hammer's invention a quickly growing part of the consumer market. Household CFLs operate on 13 to 25 watts of energy, far less than 60- to 100-watt incandescent bulbs, and thus have become a favorite with consumers trying to curb energy costs. The bulbs also last far longer than standard incandescent bulbs. Although the bulbs contain mercury and thus aren't supposed to be thrown away with the regular trash, sales are climbing. Sales could climb further if legislation pending in various jurisdictions banning incandescents passes.
CFLs will face heated competition with light-emitting diodes, but right now the price of LED lights is fairly high.
GE assigned Hammer to work on energy efficient bulbs at its labs in Nela Park, Ohio, during the first U.S. energy crisis in the mid-'70s. His first invention was a standard-shaped 40-watt fluorescent lamp, called the F-40 Watt Miser, in 1973. To lower the power consumption, Hammer changed the gas used and tweaked various components inside the lamp.
Next came the CFL. Bulbs and fluorescent light, however, are not a natural combination. Fluorescent lights are ordinarily tube-shaped. Curving them into a bulb shape creates reflective losses, i.e. light that shines from one part of the tube gets deflected by a nearby spiral.
Through a lot of trial and error, he came up with a way to space the spirals far enough apart to minimize losses without also losing a bulb-like shape. Many manufacturers have tried different designs, but the shape Hammer coined remains dominant.
Hammer invented the bulb in 1976, he said, and primarily worked alone. (Editor's note: the years reflect the time Hammer says he invented the bulbs, not when GE announced them.) The original prototype is in the Smithsonian.
Although executives at GE liked the idea, they decided not to market it at the time. CFLs would require entirely new manufacturing facilities, which would cost $25 million. "So they decided to shelve it," Hammer said.
The electronics giant contemplated licensing the design. Unfortunately, the design leaked out. Others copied it before GE started a licensing program.
"That's how it became widespread," he said. Still, "it has been a big hit for GE."
Hammer hasn't done badly either. He has published more than 40 papers and was awarded the Edison Medal by the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2002.
See more CNET content tagged:
General Electric Co., Ohio, energy, light-emitting diode, design
I guess that's wrong. Looks like fortunate that the technology leaked and became widespread instead of staying unused on the GE's shelve for who-knows how many more years or decades.
Technology thiefs might prove beneficial sometimes :)
In my experience, however, CFLs have shortcomings that make them imperfect replacements for incandescents. Once you flip the switch, many CFLs flicker or stay dark for several moments before they light up -- behaviors that are surprisingly annoying. Alternative "instant-on" CFLs typically start instantly, but at greatly reduced luminosity, taking a minute or two to reach their full brightness. Although they are harder to find, I prefer the "instant-on" variety. But because they are so dim when they start off, I prefer to have at least one incandescent in a room to provide instantly bright light.
Additionally, although CFLs are supposed to last much longer than incandescents, some fail prematurely -- and too many failures will significantly undercut the cost benefit of their reduced energy consumption.
The other major shortcoming of CFLs is that they contain mercury. No matter how many warnings people are given about "proper disposal", the vast majority will still end up in the household trash when their useful life has ended. And it is worth asking what the proper clean-up procedure is should you ever break one.
While I think the benefits of CFLs outweigh their shortcomings, I am adamantly opposed to proposed laws mandating their use. Reasonable skepticism recognizes that those in the CFL supply chain will profit enormously from CFL mandates, without the trouble of having to convince consumers of the value of their products. In the free market, people are free to choose CFLs if CFLs make sense to them, and that is as it should be. That marketplace competition is what will drive production efficiencies, cost reductions, and improvements -- something that will benefit everyone.
long time ago and found that very annoying. But I was pleasantly
surprised when I recently converted a bunch of lights in my
place to the latest CFLs (from GE I think) -- the are pretty much
"instant on", and I don't notice that they start out dim (although
maybe they do and I didn't notice).
One major remaining disadvantage: the standard CFLs are not
dimmable, and I'm a dimmer fanatic, so I can only replace about
1/2 my bulbs. Also, the 3-way is a huge monster that is much
bigger than the incandescent version, and it sticks out the top of
torchieres etc.
I just bought a bunch of LED-based nightlights to replace my
incandescent ones (hey, 2-4 x 4W, adds up over time!) and am
not too happy, since they give off a goulishly blue light. Bigger
models intended for household use had better get the spectrum
right!
Please, go crawl back into your cave and stop polluting public
discourse.
I think you should stop stealing Rush's drugs. Look how bad they've messed him up.
It's just another example of how neoconservatives aren't conservative at all. In contrast, my gradmother is a life-long Republican and is very strongly against wasting anything. Somebody better tell her that most of her party doesn't believe in conserving anymore.
Neocon slogan: "I'm a conservative and I hate the LIBERAL MEDIA! Now let's go waste stuff!"
Why don't you go and have a look at a few glaciers and tell us that there is no effect on anything?
www.talkclimatechange.com
What I got out of it is that the bulbs have gained popularity because they use less energy and last longer and that saves consumers money.
If saving money is viewed as part of the liberal agenda these days then go ahead and call me a liberal because I love saving money.
Fluorescents should be used in lamps that have an average of at least 3 hours a day of usage. They should be turned on at dust, then turned off at bed time (or left on over night). In an office setting, turned on in the morning, and off after the cleaning crew leaves.
Fluorescents should not be used in bathrooms, motion sensor lights, or other cases where they will remain on for a only a short time.
Since they are on a different wavelength the light doesnt travel as far, but along with the brightness, I believe this will change as well in time.
LED's lightbulbs are coming soon.
BTW speaking of outdoor lights, why dont more people say anything about light pollution? All outdoor streetlights need to have downward light reflectors.
KieranMullen
http://360oregon.com
What are they teaching in school these days? Very few wavelengths are impeded in our atmosphere, due to absorption. The mundane wavelengths which emanate from our everyday products do just fine, thank you.
I find that GE has the most consistent light of the various brands. I know they all come from China unlike approx 15 years back when the Con Ed utility in NY sold 3 sizes of U shaped screw in bulbs for $5.00 each to get us to try and use them. Those original 3 units, Panasonic and OSRAM brands marked made in USA, are still working in my house.
I do notice that these disciussion boards are packed with people who have tangential agendas and huge boastful claims that have no basis in fact. I wish their squeals would somhow be filtered into a sub post area.
- Inventor?
- by lexx12 August 21, 2007 7:00 PM PDT
- Agapito Flores invented it, GE just bought the patent.
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